Sea of a Thousand Stars
Author's Note: This story, is set approximately 65 years after the events of Book 10. Written by: VanquishedHydra4844 Based on the world and characters created by Tui T. Sutherland Prologue: 50 years ago... "Clam. Ah, I see you decided to come, after all." the dark, gray-blue SeaWing flashed in Aquatic, as the lighter blue SeaWing landed on the mountain ledge. "I got your message, Tidepool, so here I am." Clam said. Clam's scales were a lighter blue than his brother's, not unlike their father, Riptide. Their mother Tsunami was long gone, having died a few months before. "Did you hear what happened to our brothers?" Tidepool asked. "No. What happened?" "Dolphin and Oyster were ambushed and killed by SkyWing hybrids. But to be more prescise, SkyWing-''RainWing'' hybrids." "Oh." "I managed to catch the murderers, and they are now in prison. I just... I want us to be safe. You and me. We're the only ones in our family that are left now, because Father got killed while defending us from that troop of SandWings that attacked us. I want you to join me. But first, you need to meet someone, well, two someones, actually." The two SeaWings walked through the mountains, and Tidepool stopped after a couple of moments of walking. "We're here." he said. Two dragons stepped out of the shadows. "Tiiiidepoool. Wherrre have you beennnnn?" the first dragon, a SkyWing asked. "Yessss. Where have you been and what have you been doing, Tidepool, our old friend?" the second dragon, a SandWing added. "Hello, my old friends, Firestorm and Cactushide, how are you doing?" "Juuussstt fine. Thank yyyou." Firestorm said. "Who have you got with you?" Cactushide asked. "This is my brother, Clam." Tidepool said. "Nice to meet you, Clam." Cactushide said. "Yessss. Nice to meet yyyou, Clammm." "Um, nice to meet you, too." "So, Clam, I want you to join me in carrying out my great plan." Tidepool said, his eyes glinting misteriously in the moonlight. "What's your great plan, exactly?" "My great plan is to annihilate hybrids from the face of Pyrrhia. We shall go and find every hybrid in Pyrrhia, and bring them here, to the caves where Mother was raised." "What?! But- but some of your best friends are hybrids, brother!" "Not anymore. Now, they are my sworn enemies. So, will you join me?" Clam stared at his brother, his brain reeling. How? How could he? "I'm sorry, brother. But I cannot do this. I won't join you. You have my friendship, but never my alliegence." "Fine." Tidepool snarled. To Firestorm and Cactushide, Tidepool said, "Kill him. Don't hesitate." Firestorm leaped forward and slashed his claws across Clam's chest and throat. "Owww." Clam tried to say, but couldn't, because only thick red blood burbled out. Cactushide leaped forward and stabbed Clam in the heart and skull with her tail. Clam collapsed, thrashing in agony. Slowly, the thrashing stopped, and Tidepool stared at his brother's body, and growled, "Well, now he's out of the way. We can go fullfill the plan, yes?" "Yes." Firestorm and Cactushide said in unison. "Good. Now... we shall steal the hybrids at night, or when they're alone. We shall be everywhere and nowhere, mere bodies in a crowd. We shall be like phantoms, like ghosts. And," Tidepool paused dramatically, "We shall be known and feared by all hybrids as the Phantom Brotherhood!" Chapter 1: 15 years later... Ow... Everything hurts. What happened? Searipper woke up, and noticed that she was chained to the floor of a stone cell. "Well, well, well. You're looking no worse for wear. Especially since you've been asleep for five days." said a voice snotily. "Oh yeah? Wait until I do this!" Searipper lunged towards the dragon outside of her cell, but suddenly, bolts of pain flared up and down wherever the chains were. "OW!!!" she roared. "Yes. You've figured it out, little SeaWing hybrid, haven't you? The chains are enchanted to give whichever prisoner who wears them an electric shock when that prisoner moves violently." The guard shimmered like a mirage, or a heatwave. "WHAT???!!!" "Keep your voice down! Then maybe you'll get free faster, though probably not." "Oh, wow. That's reassuring. And by the way, where am I?" she snarled. "You're in the secret base of the Phantom Brotherhood. Dinner's at Twelve. Which means that you've got ten more hours to go before you're fed! Haha! Enjoy your stay!" the guard called as he walked off. Fine''.' she thought. '''Well, I don't have anything else to do, so I guess I'll just scratch out how many days I've been here already. One... two... three... four... five. Done. Searipper looked around the room, and observed her surroundings. She was in a bare cage with solid rock walls and bars near the top of the cell. The cage just cleared her horns. It was in a long room that looked like a warehouse made of stone, but she really didn't know what it was. All she knew was that the long room that her cage was inside of had a lot more cages cut into the walls, all with dragons inside of them, and all the dragons were hybrids. After a while, she got bored, and remembered a song that her mother used to sing to her when she was a small dragonet. Her mother... she wondered where Current was, and whether she was still alive. Then she remembered. Current was dead. Killed, along with Searipper's four siblings, who were all purebred, somehow. Searipper remembered that Current's last words had been something like, "I'll be with you. In here. Current had placed her talon over Searipper's heart, and then pushed her away, saying, "Run!" She pushed the thought away, knowing that she'd never see her mother again, and focused on the song. She began to sing: Sleep in the Ocean, sleep on the Shore; Know I'll be here for you forevermore. Sleep in the Mountains, sleep in the Trees Know I'll be with you, and I'll never leave. Sleep in the Mud swamps, sleep in the Sand, Know I'll be part of you, and you, of the land. Searipper was dimly aware that the other prisoners had stopped what they were doing, and the guards had stopped to listen as well. But she didn't care. She was just trying to get her mind and herself as far away from this place as possible. All she wanted was her family back. Sleep in your Dream-scape, sleep on the Plains; Know I'll be with you, now and again. Sleep in the Ocean, sleep on the Shore; Know I'll be here for you forevermore. By the time Searipper finished with the fifth verse, she was crying buckets of tears, and based on the noise from the other cells, the other prisoners were, too. The guards were trying to hold back tears as well. Suddenly, a clamor was heard outside the iron door that was the room's exit. "...Get him in, and you won't have to worry about him fighting any longer." growled one of the guards. Searipper looked out of her cell in time to see a thickly built and very angry SkyWing surrounded by several guards being herded into the cell next to hers. For a fraction of a moment, he caught her eye, and she noticed that his face looked more like a MudWing's in appearance, and he had startlingly bright brown eyes, with just a hint of blue-green in their depths. The hybrid looked away, and resumed fighting against the guard's efforts to get him into the cell. After several minutes, the clamor subsided, and the guards walked out of the room. Oh joy. The SkyWing-MudWing hybrid is probably going to be very grumpy over the next few days. And to think that I get to be right next door. Little did Searipper know, she was right. Chapter 2: "Dinner!" Searipper heard one of the other prisoners shout, right before hearing a guard shout back, "No talking! Now shut your Potholes and be quiet!" The guard came to Searipper's cell and tossed a heap of feathers into the cell. Ewww. But, I guess if this is what I get, then I might as well get used to it. She scratched another line on the wall. Six days. Six days of being in this prison, of being a prisoner, of being chained to the cold, stone floor, and she was getting tired of it. She ate the mouthful of feathers, and was getting ready to sleep it off, when the SkyWing-MudWing hybrid in the next cell said, "Hey, SeaWing hybrid, what's your name?" "Oh, um, my name is, um, Searipper. But you can just call me Sea." she said. "That's nice. Mine's Skyfire. I'm the son of Peril and Clay, at your service. But you can just call me Sky." "Peril and Clay, huh? Well, my parent's names are Current and Darkslasher. Father disappeared a long time ago, though. So I never really knew him." "That's sad." "Yeah. Mother taught me a song that Father used to sing to my older siblings a lot, when he was still around. He was with the NightWings most of the time, but when he was around, he would sing that song right before he left. He sang it the day he left, and never came back, actually." "Oh. I'm sorry." Skyfire said. "You want to hear the song?" Searipper asked. "Yes." Sky answered. "Here goes:" "Go home to the Ocean, little dragons; Go home to the Waves and the Sea. Go home to the Ocean, little dragons; Go home, and wait there for Me. '' '' Fly far away from this treacherous mountain, Fly far away, to a place where you're free. Fly far away from this horrible wasteland, Fly far away, and go back to the Sea." Searipper was aware of one of the guards telling her to shut up, but she was too carried away by the song to care. She allowed herself to get swept into the song again. "Go home to the Ocean, little dragons; Go home to the Waves and the Sea. Go home to the Ocean, little dragons; Go home, and wait there for Me." "I've told you five times! Now shut up!" roared the guard, opening the door and storming in. He growled, "Are you deaf, Half-breed? Can't you hear me? Well, answer!" "Yes, I can hear you, thank you very much. I am not deaf, and I am not a half-breed!" Searipper hissed. "Do you want me to say more? Or shall I do this?" Searipper lunged for the guard angrily, ignoring the shocks from the chains, and the guard managed to defend himself just in time, by ramming the butt of his spear into Searipper's side. That only made Searipper madder, and as she lunged again, the guard raised his spear and scraped her underbelly with it. "Ow!" Searipper growled, slashing at him again. "Shut up, half-breed!" "No!""Well then, since you won't shut up yourself, I'll do it for you!" The guard jabbed the point of his spear towards Searipper's face, and as it connected, she howled in pain. Her talon instinctively went up to her eye. Searipper hissed. "Good. Now I don't want to hear another hiss out of you tonight, do you understand me, Half-breed?" Searipper nodded,still fuming. As soon as the guard left, Skyfire peered through the bars of his cell and asked, "Are you- are you all right, Sea?" "Yes. I'm fine, but my eye however, is not." "Can I see?" "Yes." Searipper angled her face towards Sky, and the SkyWing hybrid winced as he checked it out. "One thing those guards were not stupid enough to take away was my healing rock." "Huh?" "Here, I'll show you how it works. But first, scratch me, or bite me, hard." Searipper did, as best as she could through the bars. "Okay, now watch this." Skyfire slid the rock over his scales, and when he took the rock off, the scales were completely normal. "I can do the same for your eye, though it may leave a scar. By the way, I'm an animus. Secretly, though, like my Mother's friend Turtle once was." Sky slid the rock over Searipper's eye, and after he took it off, she could see again. "Thanks." "No problem. By the way, I have a song I'd like to share with you if you don't mind me singing it." "I don't mind. You go for it!" "All right, here goes: "I remember the stars in the moonlit night, my loved one, don't be afraid. For I am here, you've nothing to fear, so please, my loved one, be brave. '' '' I remember the first time I saw you, You were so free, and I was in chains, You were afraid of my love and my niceness, You were afraid I'd die by your gaze. But please, my love, just try and accept me, Please, my loved one, just try to be brave. I remember the day that you came first to meet me, to say that you wanted me to be free, not in chains. But little did you know that I was the free one, but you let me help you, and you were so brave. '' '' I remember my first taste of freedom, when you came with me, to stay by my side. But soon you had to leave and make sure things were all right. Oh, beloved, just try and be brave. I remember the day that you came back to save me, to thank me for helping you in all those long days. So you tried, and I'm thankful, that you saved me, I'm thankful, beloved, because you were brave." Searipper noticed that several of the prisoners were crying, as well as the guards. "Who'd you write that for?" Searipper asked, choked up by the song. "I-I wrote it for you, and Mother and Father, and my sister, even though she's... gone." "Oh. I'm sorry." "It's all right. You can't change the past anyways." "Yeah..." "Well, good night, Sea." "Good night, Sky." As Searipper drifted off to sleep, she heard Skyfire softly singing Darkslasher's song to himself, its beautiful, haunting melody drifting through the air, and giving her, for the first time in all the days she had been here, a tiny thread of hope. Chapter 3: "Hey you! Half-breed, wake up!" a voice shouted in her ear. Searipper snapped awake, growling, "Don't call me half-breed!" "Well get up, then! Master wants to see you. I don't know what for, I just know he wants to see you. He also wants to see the SkyWing with the MudWing head." "How dare you!" Skyfire roared. "Deal with it, Sunny-boy!" the guard shouted back. "Arrgh!" Sky roared in annoyance. Four guards flanked them, and they were led to a large, circular room. There, a dark grayish-blue SeaWing was sitting on an elegant stone chair, which was raised slightly above a deep stone pool filled with water. The SeaWing wore a hood over his head, as well as a narwhal horn trident on his tail. "Ah. Well, let's all introduce ourselves, shall we?" the SeaWing said. Searipper noticed that his voice was raspy. "You," he said, pointing at Searipper. "Go first." "Fine. My name is Searipper, I am a SeaWing-NightWing hybrid, and I hate the food that your guards keep bringing us." "Okay. Thank you for telling me that." "You. Tell me something about you." the SeaWing said, turning to Skyfire. "My name is Skyfire, I am a SkyWing-MudWing hybrid, and I am the son of Peril and Clay." "Clay... Now where have I heard that name before? Oh, yes. One of the last of the oh-so-famous and revered, blah,blah,blah, Dragonets of Destiny, along with that NightWing and that SandWing hybrid friend of his. Tell me, hybrid, where is your father, mother, and their friends? Oh, no worries. I won't hurt them. I just want to have a little, you know, chat." "Says you. How do we know you're going to do what you said?" Searipper spat. "Well, I am the leader of the Phantom Brotherhood, so you have my word." "Swear by the number of grains of sand in the desert and the height of the mountains in the sky." Searipper growled. "Fine." the hooded SeaWing drawled, "But you are in no position to be ordering me around, half-breed. But, all right, if you insist." The SeaWing took a deep breath. "I, Tidepool, eldest son of Riptide and Tsunami, and leader of the Phantom Brotherhood, do hereby swear by the number of grains of sand in the desert and the height of the mountains in the sky that I will not harm the families of the two hybrids standing in front of me. Ever. There, is that what you wanted?" "Yes. Its good for now." Searipper hissed. "Sooo. What I summoned you here in the first place for is the jobs you will have while here. You see, we dragons of the Phantom Brotherhood desire that you hybrids have the best life possible here since you can't have that in the outside world. Here at the secret base of the Phantom Brotherhood, we want to protect you and keep you safe, away from dragons who would do you harm. But first... jobs." "Huh?" Skyfire asked. "Ahhh... you haven't been taught the rules yet! Well, I shall tell them to you." He proceeded to launch into a long list of them, among them shocking ones like, 'No talking while dinner is being served and eaten.', 'Be ready to work at 1:00 AM sharp.', and prehaps the most shocking one of all: 'No asking questions. Ever.' Searipper stared at the SeaWing, before opening her mouth to speak, but was interuppted by Tidepool. "Sooo, SeaWing hybrid, you shall be working in the mining tunnels, helping to excavate new areas of the base. And you, SkyWing hybrid, you shall be working... in the kitchens, helping to do the dishes." "WHAT??!!" Searipper roared. The guards raised their spears and hissed, giving her a warning. "Well, they should be ready to work in one week. Yes?" "Yes. They shall both be ready. Whether they like it or not." a guard said. "Good. Shall we sing our hymn?" "Yes!" all the guards in the room roared. "On three. One... Two... Three." Then the guards and Tidepool burst into song: "Hail to Our Phantom Brethen, who go before us all. Hail to Our Pure-Bred heritage, which makes the half-breeds fall. We fight for purity of blood by taking up the cause. So the hybrids fear us when they hear us sharpening our claws! Annihilate all half-breeds, this we pledge to do. For this we fight, for we know that it's right, so this we go and do! We go before a fight and any hybrids, all hybrids of all kinds. We take them back to the mountains of yore for this we take up the cause. Anihilate all half-breeds','' that's our motto, too. For the cause we fight, for we know what's right, We sneak through the Night to find all that's not right... and slay them, for they're not our kind!" "Dismissed." Tidepool said, right before diving headfirst into the pool and getting them all soaked. Skyfire hissed in annoyance. The guards dragged them back to their cells, and as the door slammed, Searipper had a feeling that something or someone was coming, that something was about to change. Chapter 4: Searipper paced around her cell, wondering why that SeaWing would assign her to the mining tunnels. She stopped pacing after a while, glanced at the wall where she scratched the days, sat down, and sighed. '''Someday, we'll find a way to get out of here, Skyfire, and I, together, away from this group of crazy dragons, away from the mountains. Someday soon, I can feel it in my heart, we'll finally be free. Free, and we won't have to hide, and we won't be kicked around and made fun of, just because we're different. Someday, Skyfire and I will be free again. Someday. Someday. She resumed pacing after a few moments. Sky hadn't said anything for a while, so Searipper just assumed that he was still contemplating the shock of it all. The guard told me that the reason why the hybrids are kept here is so they'll "be free to be themselves, and they'll be safe." But then, why would they chain us up? Unless... they think we're dangerous. But we're not dangerous. Hybrids don't get any special abilities. We're just miserable looking middle ground. So why would they keep us here? Unless... they're planning on doing something awful to us. But what? They wouldn't keep us chained up if they thought we were going to go along peacefully, would they? They're keeping us here so that they can annihilate hybrids from the face of the earth! As she finished the thought, the iron door to the room clanged open and four guards stomped in, dragging a limp, scared looking NightWing SandWing hybrid between them. "Get him in, and you won't have to deal with him anymore. This one didn't even put up a fight when we snatched him anyways, or so I hear." "Yeah. He's pathetic, this one is." Searipper didn't know if it was her imagination, or something other than that, but she thought she saw tears slipping onto the stone floor as the guards shoved him into the cell that was on the other side of Skyfire's cell. After a few moments, the clanking of chains could be heard. Then the guards walked out. "Hey, you all right in there?" Searipper heard Sky ask the new hybrid. A mumbled reply came. "Sorry?" "I said, I'm fine!" the hybrid growled. "Um, well, my name's Skyfire, and the hybrid on the other side of my cage is named Searipper. What's yours?" "Why should I tell you?" the hybrid hissed. "You don't know what I've been through. You don't know me. As far as those moon-licking, camel farting, frog faces outside are concerned, I'm just another hybrid, another nobody to be hassled over, pushed around. You don't know what I've been through, you wouldn't understand. Nobody does. And nobody ever will." Searipper could hear the anger and sadness in the hybrid's voice. "What happened?" she asked. "You wouldn't understand. So no, I'm not telling you, and not telling anybody!" the hybrid roared. "Quiet down there!" a guard shouted. "Why don't you go stick your snout in elephant crap and shut up yourself!" the hybrid roared back angrily. "Excuse me?" the guard yelled. "I said, WHY DON'T YOU GO STICK YOUR SNOUT IN ELEPHANT CRAP AND SHUT UP YOURSELF!?" the hybrid roared at the top of his lungs. "HOW DARE YOU!" the guard roared. "OH, I DARE ALL RIGHT! I DARE YOU TO GO AND YELL THAT YOU LOVE DOING THIS, THEN TO GO BACK HOME TO YOUR MOMMA AND TELL HER WHAT YOU DID!" "MY MOM IS DEAD!" "YEAH? WELL, THANKS TO YOU MOON LICKING PIECES OF CROCODILE SPAWN, BOTH OF MINE ARE DEAD! I'M ALONE! SO SHUT UP! YOU'RE MAKING ME MAD!" WHO CARES!" "I CARE! I SWEAR, AS SOON AS I'M FREE, I'M GOING TO RUN AROUND THIS ROOM AND SLIT ALL YOU CRAPPY PIECES OF SLOBBERY DROOL'S THROATS, AND I'LL ENJOY DOING IT!" That shut the guard up. The hybrid too, seemed to have worn himself out. He sat in the cage, muttering to himself. "Are you all right?" Searipper asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. I certainly told that one to take a number and shut his snout, didn't I?" the hybrid said with a hint of dry humor in his voice. "Yeah." Searipper said. "Say, I have a joke for you. You want to hear it? It's an old one my siblings used to tell me when I was feeling down." "Sure." "Okay. Here goes: 'There once was a SkyWing named Jim, Who went out in the Sea on a whim, he tried to go swimming, but ended up drowning, and the SeaWings said, 'Dude, you need fins'!" "Hahaha." "I have one." Sky said. "Go ahead." Searipper replied. "What do you say when you land awkwardly on your face after flying in the Desert?" "I don't know." the new hybrid spoke up. "You say, 'Nice Sand''ing, Me'!" "I have one now. What do you call a SkyWing who's as stuck up as the guard outside?" "I don't know." "A Sky Snob!" "Oh, hahaha." Sky laughed. "So, what is your name?" "I guess I might as well tell you now. My name's Starsand." Chapter 5: "I hate it here. I hate being chained up, unable to stretch my wings and fly. I hate being treated like a prisoner." Starsand growled angrily. "So do we, Starsand." Searipper said softly. "All three of us hate it here. The food they bring us is awful. I-I'm four years old, and I still don't know how to fly." "I'm 6. But I could fly okay. Then I just had to go and get captured. I failed Father, and Mother. I was going to have a little sister, but those moon licking pieces of cocodile crap killed Mother and Father and stole the egg. I'll never find it now. Ever. We knew she was a girl, but we didn't know what we were going to call her." Starsand sniffled, and wiped away a tear. "Now she's gone, and she's never going to be able to find me, unless I find her. I was given the honor of being able to name her when she hatched, but I don't think I deserve it now. I failed." "You did not fail. You are a very brave dragon, and you aren't the only one who lost a family. Both Skyfire and I did, too." "Oh." "So, you said you were going to name your sister. Do you have any ideas?" "No." "Well, let's start thinking of some!" "Okay." "How about... Cactusstar? Starlight, Moonseer, Hopegiver? Sandstorm, Quail, Sandstone?" Starsand said no to each of them. Sky gave a few more suggetions, then ran out of ideas. The other hybrids threw in suggestions as well, but Starsand still said no. Then an old, practically aincent looking hybrid from across the room spoke up. "How about... Sunsetmaker?" "Yes." Starsand replied. "That's perfect." Later that day after dinner, Starsand said, "Hey Searipper, thanks for helping me come up with a name for my sister." "No problem, Starsand." "You can just call me Star." "Okay." "Have you got a job yet?" "Yes. I was assigned to the mining tunnels, and Sky was assigned to the kitchens, helping to wash dishes." "My job is to take out the trash and clean the bathrooms." Star said disgustedly. "What days are you on duty?" "Mondays and Tuesdays." "I got a paper today from one of the guards. My days are Mondays and Tuesdays, too!" "And me!" Sky said. "That's neat. So, now that we know what days we're on duty, how are we going to get out of here?" Chapter 6: '''DONG! DONG! DONG!' the wake up bell sounded. Searipper snapped awake, and realized it was to be her first day on the job. She headed towards the mining tunnels, and asked the guard where she was supposed to be stationed. "Section 32-C." the guard said. "I don't want to see no funny busniess now. So get to work, you!" he roared when she stood there too long. She found section 32-C, and got to work. A few moments later, she heard a voice on her right say, "Man, I hate being here. It smells like a room full of goat droppings and it feels like a prison." Searipper turned to look at who was speaking. A dark-reddish-gold SkyWing with glow-in-the-dark stripes on his sides, legs, and neck growled and said, "What're you looking at, little snooper?" "Oh, um, I was just trying to see who was speaking." Searipper said. "Ha! More like staring at me." the SkyWing hybrid said. "So, what's your name, little snooper?" "My name is Searipper. What's yours?" "Searipper..." the SkyWing let it sink in. "That's a beautiful name. Mine is only the most dumbest sounding name my parents could come up with." the SkyWing replied. "And that is...?" "Swimming SpruceTree. I call myself Spruce for short, because I can't stand my real name in actuality. In my head, I call myself TorrentSky." "That's cool. So what can I call you?" "Oh, either. Whichever you like. But please don't call me Swimming SpruceTree. It's embarrassing." "Yeah. I know how that is. I had a friend whose name was Seaweedeye. Not fun. Especially since he was teased for it." "Oh." "Yeah." "So, what section of this prison are you in?" "Section 23, Cell 15. What section are you in?" "Section 23, Cell 14." "Wow! You're in the cell to my right!" "Huh. I never knew that. I've heard you talking, but I never bothered to interrupt your conversations. So as not to seem rude, you know?" "Yeah. I understand." "So, do you mind if I call you Stormbrander?" "No. I like that." The two continued talking as they worked, and before long, the end-of-work bell sounded. Searipper headed back down to her cell and walked inside, not even resisting when the guards put the chains on her wings and ankles. She was far too happy to care. As for Tuesday, the same thing happened, and over the next couple of days, Searipper and SpruceTorrent, as she called him, became very good friends. She introduced him to Skyfire and Starsand, and Spruce soon became aquanted with the two of them as well. Soon, four months later, the time came for Starsand's marvelous escape plan to be put into action. On a moonless Wednesday night, at 9:30 PM, Starsand, Skyfire, and Searipper unlocked the doors of their cells, which was fortunate, as the guards were too lazy and tired to put the chains back on them and lock the doors. Spruce had also unlocked his door and stepped out as well. They ran quickly down the stone halls of the caves to the hatchery, where Starsand snuck in and grabbed his sister's egg. Suddenly, an alarm bell sounded. A watch-dragon had spotted them fleeing, and cries of, "Sound the alarm! Sound the alarm! Four prisoners have just escaped!" flew over their heads. Soon, the low thumping of many pairs of feet on stone could be heard echoing behind them. "Go! I'll hold them off for you guys!" Spruce whispered. "No! We'll all fight!" Starsand and Skyfire hissed back. Together, the four of them turned and slashed at the oncoming guards. Searipper snapped several of the guard's necks, and slashed several others. Suddenly, an agonized roar split the room in two. Searipper had no choice but to continue fighting, and soon, all the guards were dead, with their necks snapped, or slashed. Starsand walked through the carnage and stopped at one of the bodies on the outer edge of the room. "Searipper," he said in an agonizingly strained voice, "You have to see who this last body is. And you won't like it, that much I can tell you." Searipper walked over to where Starsand was standing, and her eyes widened in horror as she took in what she was seeing. "Spruce... no." she said. "Stormbrander... I'm... sorry." Spruce whispered almost inaudibly. "I hope... you three will soon... be far away... from the talons of... these crazy dragons. Do you hear me, Searipper? Fly, fly and never look back. Fly away... my little Stormbrander. Fly away." Slowly, Spruce's eyes glazed over and he seemed to be far away as he said it. "Fly...away. Fly..." "I'll do that, Spruce. I'll do that. Just for you. I'll fly." A slow smile spread across Spruce's face, and he said, "Fly" one last time and died. Chapter 7: Starsand walked over to the other side of the room, and Searipper walked over to the side that he had walked over to as well. "We ready to fly?" "Yeah." "But I don't know how to fly!" "Just... jump and flap!" Skyfire shouted as he jumped out of the room, flying around the exit. Starsand jumped off second. He had just gotten leverage when he looked past her and yelled, "Searipper, jump!" "What? Why?" "Just jump!" Now Searipper felt the low thumping of many talons thundering towards her, and suddenly, she heard a voice shout, "You! Stop!" Several guards burst into the room, and one reached for her. "Stop, hybrid!" "No!" she roared, and shot her secret weapon that she hadn't used for several months: Water that was as hot as fire. She spewed it towards the guards, and as it connected, one guard shrieked as the water burned his scales. "Get her!" the lead guard shouted. "Jump!" Starsand and Skyfire were both yelling. Searipper continued to back up and continued to spew the fire-water as the guards advanced. Soon, all the guards were down, with burns blistering on various places, and one guard had been dumb enough to come within shooting range, and she shot him in the eyes. The lead guard was the only one left, and as she reached for Searipper, Searipper shot her on all the exposed scales she could see, and jumped. As the guard fell, she grabbed a dagger out of a scabbard and threw it at Searipper. Searipper jumped at the last minute, but she didn't jump fast enough, and as she flapped once, twice, three times, still facing the guard, the dagger embedded itself in her chest. As it did, the world turned blurry, and then turned dark. Chapter 8: "What... what... where am I?" Searipper asked. The world was dark. "You're with us, little one." familiar voices said. She turned and spotted her family. She was flying peacefully through a night sky full of stars with her family, when suddenly, a voice roared, "Stop her!" Searipper knew that voice. She heard it, and her Mother said, "Run! I'll- We'll hold them off for you. Run!" her Mother and siblings turned, faced the attackers, and then she tried to fly, but she found that she couldn't fly foward. Her wings were locked. She watched, horrified, as her family was slaughthered by several guards, who then flew towards her and surrounded her. She couldn't run, couldn't hide, couldn't fly, couldn't do anything except watch as the leader stepped forward and said, "Well, well, well? What have we here? A lone hybrid? No, this one I recognize. This is the one I tried to kill, without success, but now, without anyone to protect her," she laughed, addressing the guards, then turned her gaze onto Searipper. "Without anyone to protect you, not your family, not your friends, no one, you will die." The guard lunged, and slashed Searipper's throat, then as if she wanted to cause even more damage, she stabbed her dagger in several places on Searipper's scales. The guard roared with laughter, as did all of the guards. "Enjoy dying so far, SeaWing hybrid?" the guard asked, stabbing the dagger into Searipper's underbelly. Searipper howled. She hissed, and handed the dagger to a guard, then ripped further into Searipper's underbelly with her talons. "Almost done." the guard grunted, snatching the dagger out of the other guard's talons again. She raised the dagger, and plunged it deep into Searipper's chest. Searipper yowled, then slammed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she saw Skyfire standing over her, looking concerned. "You all right there, Searipper? You were screaming and yelling your head off when I came in. Is something wrong?" "I just... had a bad dream. That's all." "Oh. Well, hopefully you won't have any more. Okay?" "Yeah. Okay." Searipper coughed and asked, "What happened?" "Well, the guard threw her dagger at you, and it got you in the chest. It didn't get you directly in the heart or you'd be dead. It got you a little above, but it was still pretty bad. You were as pale as a sheet when we got here, to Possibility." "Oh, well, after we get out of here, my nickname can be Scarheart!" "Oh, haha." Skyfire said. "Oh, the healers want me out. See you later, Seascar." Sky said. "See ya, Square-jaw." Sea called after him as he walked out of the room. Soon after, Starsand came in and said, "Hey Sea, how are you doing?" "Good, How're you doing?" "Good. Skyfire says you had a nightmare. Want to tell me about it?" "Okay. So, I was flying through a night sky with my family, and I heard the guard, you know, the one who threw the dagger? Well I heard her and then I saw all the guards that I killed, I saw them, they slaughtered my family, and then... and then... and then the lead guard tried to kill me again." Searipper started crying. "Oh, Sea, you big emotional mess. Come over here. No, on second thought, you stay right where you are. The healers don't want you going anywhere until they're certain that your chest is fine. I'll come over there." Starsand walked over to the side of the bed and gave her a hug. "Hope you're all right soon, Sea. By the way, I asked the healers if you could get out of bed to come watch Sunsetmaker's hatching, and here's the good thing. They said yes!" "Yes!" "Well, I should go. The healers don't want me causing any, quote, 'Unintentional mental and physical strain and/or stress' on you. They're crazy, in my opinion, but their methods do work." "Yep." "See you later, Sea." "See you later, Star." The SandWing NightWing hybrid left, his tail barb twitching almost unoticcebly. Searipper quietly laughed to herself, and said, "Star sure is crazy, but that's just the way I like him." Then she fell back to sleep. Searipper woke up in time to hear the healer, an IceWing named Leopard Seal, shaking her awake by touching her with his super cold talons, (and nearly getting his face boiled in fire-water because of it), and saying, "Searipper! The egg's about to hatch! Come on! Wake up!" She got up, and, walked outside, where, under the glow of two full moons, Sunsetmaker was about to hatch. Soon, the egg shattered, and amidst several pieces of silver eggshell, a dark gray-black dragonet sat. "Aaawwwrrkk." Sunsetmaker squeaked. "Hello, Sunsetmaker. I'm your brother, Starsand. Welcome to the world." The dark gray dragonet stumbled over to Starsand, and proceeded to rub her face, arms, tail, wings, and legs all over Starsand's front legs, probably saying that Starsand was hers. "Awww." Skyfire said. "Happy first Big Brother Day for Starsand! Three cheers for successfully getting a little sister!" Searipper shouted. "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" all of the dragons shouted into the twilight night. Epilogue: It seemed that Sunsetmaker grew quickly, as she never seemed to stop eating. In no time at all, they were celebrating her first, second, and third hatching days. The healers told her that was normal. What was not normal, however, was that Sunset seemed to have an abnormally large tail size for a dragonet her age, as it got so big, that when she started learning how to fly, she couldn't even get herself off of the ground. The healers called in the nearest inventor, who just happened to live right next door to the office, and asked him to make a device that would help Sunset get off the ground and stay off the ground when she was flying, but still be able to land when she needed to. Some weeks later, the inventor, a SandWing by the name of Javelina, brought the thing over. He strapped it onto Sunset's back, and adjusted a few buttons on a motor. Sunset had to wear a harness to keep it on, but in no time at all, she was flying just like a regular dragon. Or, maybe more like a dragon that had a really weird looking machine with super large wings that were bigger than a SkyWing's wings by a couple of inches, and a motor attached to the back, as well as a harness, but otherwise, she flew normally. Searipper thought that Sunset looked pretty weird with the thing on, but it was pretty compact as it could be folded up with a little bit of fiddling with it. The wings were attached to Sunset's actual wings, so they could go up or down when Sunset's wings went up or down, and they could fold over and do a bunch of other stuff that Searipper really didn't care about. After several months, Sunsetmaker could fly normally, and Starsand decided that they would leave the next day. The day that they left, Javelina came by to make sure that Sunset's wings were okay for flying. He stuck some gasoline in the motor, made sure the wings unfolded and folded correctly, did a bunch of other stuff, and then he said, "That should be good for three days, but I'm going to give you the whole can of gas just in case. Remember: put one gallon of gas in the motor every day, but don't go over it, 'cause the motor might explode. Got it?" "Got it." "Searipper, you, Starsand, or Skyfire will have to do that. I would allow Sunset to do it, but... well, anyways, you know what to do." Javelina got up to leave. "Javelina, if we do forget to put gasoline in it, or it explodes, would Sunset still be able to fly?" "Yes. She would, but it would just be a little harder to keep up with you guys." "Ah. Thanks, Javelina." "No problem, Mrs. Searipper. By the way, where are you going?" "To the Mud Kingdom." Searipper replied. "Thanks." Then Javelina left. A few hours later, the four hybrids left Possibility, and began flying towards the Mud Kingdom. Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Canon) Category:Content (VanquishedHydra4844)